The present variety of peach tree resulted from an on-going program of fruit and nut tree breeding. The purpose of this program is to improve the commercial quality of deciduous fruit and nut varieties, and rootstocks, by creating and releasing promising selections of Prunus, malus and regia species. To this end we make both controlled and hybrid cross pollinations each year in order to produce seedling populations from which improved progenies are evaluated and selected.
The seedling, ‘Burpeachtwentyeight’ was originated by us, and selected from a population of seedlings growing in our experimental orchards which is located near Fowler, Calif. The seedlings, grown on their own roots, were derived from a cross that was made in 1996 of the acidic, yellow-fleshed, peach identified as ‘Spring Gem’ (unpatented), which was the pollen parent, and the nectarine variety identified as B17.013 (unpatented), and which is an early mid-season, white fleshed, non-melting, clingstone nectarine, as the seed parent. As the fruit ripened the resulting seed from this cross pollination were picked, and prepared for embryo rescue. After the appropriate steps were achieved in stratification, germination and subsequent growth, the plantlets were conditioned for a greenhouse phase. Subsequently, the new plants were field planted and grown for further evaluation. One seedling, which is the present variety, exhibited especially desirable characteristics, and was then designated as ‘E8.015’. This seedling was marked for subsequent observation. After the 1999 fruiting season, the new variety of peach tree was selected for advanced evaluation and repropagation.